1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to the interconnection of electrical components and more particularly to a carrier and midplane mounting arrangement for the interconnection of printed circuit boards.
2. Description of Related Art
The interconnection of printed circuit boards conventionally has required transitional printed circuit boards positioned between two groups of printed circuit boards to which the connections are to be made. The transitional board serves to make the electrical connections among the various printed circuit boards grouped. This is disadvantageous in requiring an extra printed circuit board and conventional connecting means. Jumper cables and pin and socket connectors typically are employed. These arrangements are complex, costly and do not permit high density of interconnections.
An arrangement making use of hermaphroditic connectors is disclosed in patent application Ser. No. 801,977, filed Dec. 3, 1991, U.S. Pat. No. 5,199,881 by Felix M. Oshita, Ronald L. Campbell and Theodore R. Conroy-Wass for HERMAPHRODITIC INTERCONNECTION OF CIRCUIT BOARDS. This application has the same assignee as the present application and is incorporated herein by reference. In the arrangement of that application, hermaphroditic node connectors are provided along the edges of circuit boards to be interconnected and are pressed together at their forward faces where contacts are brought into engagement. In that design, however, there was not a suitable arrangement for carrying a large number of the hermaphroditic connectors or for supporting them for interengagement.